Art Appreciation

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Color Wheel (from Prebles' Artforms by Patrick Frank)

What are the primary colors? Secondary? Intermediate? What are analogous colors? What is meant by color scheme? What are complements? What is monochromatic? How does one tint a color? How does one shade a color? What is one way to create a neutral? What are cool colors? What are warm colors? What is intensity? What is pigment?

The Holy Family on the Steps by Nicolas Poussin

What color scheme is this? How is it balanced? What type of balance is used? What elements are used? What principles are used? Is this figurative art?

Going Home by Jacob Lawrence

How can you apply the elements and principles to this painting?

The Figure 5 in Gold by Charles Demuth

How did this painting get its title? What subject matter is this? (a little tricky: this is a "portrait" of William Carlos Williams, the poet. It is not a "traditional" portrait.)
How is depth shown? How are directional forces used?

The Kiss by Constanin Brancusi

Is this open or closed form? The medium is limestone. Is this additive or subtractive?
What kind of balance is this? What is the content? Is this "freestanding"?

Composition (The Cow) by Theo van Doesburg

What does abstract mean?
What does non-representational mean?

Bread by Elizabeth Catlett

How is mass implied here?
Is this an example of linear perspective?

Sky and Water I by M.C. Esher

What "phenomenon" does this represent? Do we find a type of perspective here?

Landscape with Yellow Birds by Paul Klee

What directional forces can you see? What is the subject? (landscape? figurative? non-objective? still life?)
Where is the focal point? What kinds of shapes are used (geometric? organic?)
What kind of balance is this? The media is watercolor, newspaper, black base. Is this a collage?